ANALYSIS: Should Mold Tesco attacker Zack Davies have been tried as a terrorist?

With the family of Davies' victim claiming that the machete attack would have been considered an act of terror had the racial roles been reversed, Executive Editor of Live News Marc Waddington looks at how the distinction between attempted murder and terror is defined

He carried out an isolated, vigilante attack of a barbaric kind - just like a terrorist.

Drummer Lee Rigby

But an act of terror is one carried out against the state. The attack on Fusilier Rigby, who was a serving soldier, could be called an act of terror because he was an employee of the state, attacked for that very reason.

Under the Terrorism Act of 2000, an act of terror is one where "the use or threat is designed to influence the government [or an international governmental organisation] or to intimidate the public or a section of the public."There is no doubt both the Rigby case and the attempt by Zack Davies to kill Mr Bhambra intimidated the public, and they were both overtly political acts.

Davies "endangered a person's life", which is also a fundament of a terrorist act.

Ultimately, it is a matter of interpretation, and one that is largely in the hands of politicians. The list of proscribed organisations that are defined as terrorist groups does not include the small but repugnant National Action of which Zack Davies was a member, but is packed with Islamic organisations.

With politicians increasingly warning us that acts of terrorism are moving away from large-scale organised bombings and more towards sporadic, chaotic rampages by small groups - as seen tragically today in France and Tunisia - it is little wonder some people question why Zack Davies' attack was not treated as terrorism.

He has not yet been sentenced, but the powers are available to the courts to put him away indefinitely. One of Lee Rigby's killers will never, ever be released.

Whether a terrorist or someone who attempted to carry out a murder, Davies will be going to prison for a long time, and the public will be protected from him.